GLIMPSES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
the two combined with a counterbalance
of Io,ooo pounds oi metal to adjust and
maintain the proper center of gravity.
Near the principal business district of
St. Petersburg stands the gorgeous
"Church of the Resurrection of Christ"
(see page 1070), which in outward dec
oration surpasses in brilliancy of colors
the St. Basil Cathedral in Moscow. The
edifice is thoroughly Russian in style,
with fantastically shaped domes and
minarets in most vivid hues.
This memorial cathedral incloses the
stone pavement stained with the blood
of the martyred Emperor Alexander II,
who was assassinated on this spot by
means of a bomb one Sunday in 1881 as
he was returning from parade. It would
seem after having liberated 23 millions
of serfs from slavery Emperor Alexan
der II was deserving of a less cruel fate.
NOTES OF THE CITY
The population of St. Petersburg is
nearly two million, and the people and
costumes seen on the streets represent
almost every nationality of Europe and
Asia. A custom new to us is noticed in
the parks, viz.,
the dresses of nurses,
indicating by their color the sex of their
charge-blue for a boy and red for a
girl.
The Winter Palace, the chief Imperial
residence, is a vast building. Its outlook
on the river is beautiful to the ordinary
observer; but as the view includes the
Royal Mausoleum, it is questionable how
great may be the pleasure the vista af
fords the Imperial head of the house, in
view of the tendency to anarchistic
methods which prevail in Russia. The
opposite side of the palace faces the
broad square, in the center of which is
the Pillar of Alexander I, a monolith 25
feet square and 155 feet high.
The original palace building, which
housed 6,000 persons, was destroyed by
fire in the year 1837, and was replaced
with the present costly structure two
years later. The apartments and halls of
the part we were permitted to inspect
are indeed palatial in appointments and
furnishings and are crowded with rare
historical paintings and silver plate.
Imagination must fall far short of pic-
turing the beauty and grandeur of the
royal entertainments given in the mag
nificent ball-rooms of this palace during
the long cold winters of this North
country.
Directly across the River Neva and
opposite the Winter Palace lies Peters
burg Island, the oldest part of the city.
Here stands the most conspicuous build
ing of the river front, the Fortress
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, sup
porting its peculiar narrow spire, 302
feet in height.
The purposes for which this mass of
stone, erected 210 years ago, has served
are decidedly varied. It has been the
burial place of all of the Tsars, with
the exception of Peter II, since it was
erected. It is a church, a mint, a mu
seum of military trophies and relics of
the great Peter, a political prison, the
execution ground, and a fortress. The
walls of the part devoted to the mauso
leum are hung with hundreds of wreaths
wrought in silver.
While this fortress church is all deeply
interesting, one is glad to take his de
parture, since there is a decided gloom
connected with the old surroundings, as
though some of the sorrow and suffer
ing to which these walls have been silent
witnesses still permeated the place.
AN EPIDEMIC OF CHOLERA
Although during our visit in St. Pe
tersburg the cholera had been claiming
its victims in the city by hundreds, the
only noticeable indications of its pres
ence were some of the precautionary
measures taken by the authorities. A
sort of wheeled apparatus for furnish
ing boiled water in quantities, gratui
tously given to the public, was located
on the corners of the principal avenues.
To some of the Icons is attributed the
power of working miracles and of heal
ing the sick, and certain of them were
supported under a canopy and carried in
a procession of golden-robed priests
through the principal streets, escorted by
military and followed by numbers of the
common people chanting hymns. As the
procession proceeded, and until it had
passed, the people on the roadside and
walks prostrated themselves before the
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